


something good comes after midnight

by tangledlovelife (BladedDarkness)



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Cassunzel Week (Disney), Cassunzel Week 2020 (Disney), F/F, side pairing: Eugene Fitzherbert/Rapunzel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25385638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladedDarkness/pseuds/tangledlovelife
Summary: Cassunzel Week 2020, Day 1: Homecoming & Reunion.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 37





	something good comes after midnight

It’s a good morning - not the best, Eugene admits - but getting to sleep in a real bed again goes a long way to making life better. He steadies the tray as he strolls down the hall. He never really thought he would miss a place quite so much. The castle at Corona is home, now, as long as Rapunzel is there. 

It’s not complete, not yet. Their home is still missing a third of itself. But it can be enough, for now.

He finishes his shuffling as he comes to a stop in front of Rapunzel’s room. Stan and Pete give him a smile but don’t move.

Eugene coughs. “You guys know why I’m here.” He gives the tray a tiny bounce. “Breakfast fit for a princess.”

Stan raises an eyebrow. "You know the rules, Eugene."

He thinks about pointing out that he literally traveled with the princess on the open road for over a year, and they most certainly did not return with their proper chaperone. Eugene feels the words die on his tongue.

“Right. I’ll just… I’ll be back later, then.”

Later, of course, means five minutes, after he sets in motion a series of events involving Shorty and his appetite, the kitchens, and poor Faith. Stan and Pete set off towards the ruckus, and he slips in unnoticed, surprised the room is still dark with curtains drawn. Rapunzel has always been more of a morning person than he is, even if that isn’t saying much anymore.

His foot scuffs against a stray canvas and a pair of eyes open up to his left. 

_ "Whooo." _

"Don't use that tone with me, Owl, I have every right to be here - Owl?" Eugene cuts off. "So, then…" The shock of bright blue hair glowing in Rapunzel's bed doesn't startle him as much as the long expanse of pale back below it. 

"Mm, wha?" Horrorstruck, he watches as Cassandra rolls over, beyond relieved when she drags the covers along with her. Still, Eugene chuckles awkwardly as her sword of black rock literally shoots out of Cassandra's palm as she stares at him with barely opened eyes, annoyed.

"Sooo. Hi." He taps his fingers against the tray. "Fancy meeting you here."

The Moonstone winks out at him from the lip of the covers as Cassandra shifts onto her elbows, still looking sleepy yet disgruntled.

Then, because Eugene has barely been holding onto his verbal filter all morning and has apparently lost the battle, "I've never seen you so not awake."

There's a groan from the other side of Cassandra and the rest of his brain kicks in, panicked, as an arm reaches out from the huddle of covers to wrap around Cassandra's upper waist.

Cassandra blinks at the bare forearm and then slowly smirks at him. "Long night," she finally rasps out.

A mass of beaming golden hair seemingly curls further into her side. "You're being too loud, Cass," mutters Rapunzel, somewhere underneath the blob of hair pressed close to Cassandra. "Just like last night." Despite her words, she sounds like she's already falling back asleep.

Cass lets her sword fall at the same time as she drops her other arm around Rapunzel’s shoulders, sheets pooling somewhere around their waists. He’s relieved to see that Cass has taken this time to… regrow? The torso of her suit, though he notices that the side Rapunzel is cuddling into is softer, with thankfully no spikes stabbing the princess through her nightgown. She brushes back Rapunzel's hair. 

There's a look of contentment on their faces that he hasn't seen for a while, not since - he stops himself from glancing at her arm, barely, but Cassandra's too busy staring at Rapunzel, face soft and open, to notice.

Finally, he can't help himself. It's bothering him.

"How are you here?"

Cassandra raises her eyes to meet his, unimpressed. "I walked."

"Woman, we took a hot air balloon and shaved months off our travel time, and yet you're here less than three days later."

Her hand is now carding through Rapunzel's hair and massaging gently at her scalp.

"Well, since  _ someone _ threw out my maps when we started out, I had to make new ones. Which are a lot better than the ones Nigel and Xavier provided, by the way. And since I wasn't following a bunch of stupid rocks, but a straight shot, I really saved loads of time."

Owl hoots irritably from his roost.

"Owl scouted overhead too." 

"Whoo."

"A lot," she amends, and he settles back into his perch, satisfied.

There's a little collection of baubles and scraps of paper on the stand next to bed, all items distinctly more utilitarian than what Eugene or Rapunzel prefer, and he realizes that, while ridiculous, he has no reason to doubt what she just said. He can see the scribbles of charcoal on the paper, forming a vague outline of the continent. 

"You missed all the fun," Eugene says, and she raises an eyebrow at him. "Your ex-pen pal took over the kingdom while we were gone."

Cassandra's eyes flash, holding Rapunzel tighter. "He's not my anything."

He sets the tray at the foot of the bed finally, and takes an apple for himself. He tosses it up and down a few times before slicing it up. Then he points the knife at her.

"You're ruining it."

"What?"

"You can't be our chaperone anymore, they're gonna stick someone else intruding on all our time together now."

Pascal chirps at him, unimpressed, and he sets the knife back down.

"Sorry, frog."

She's glaring at him again. "I can protect her better than ever now. Especially from  _ you." _ It's without bite, however, and he understands.

"Oh, you could," he agrees without hesitation. "But do you really want me to be  _ your _ chaperone?"

"What?"

He points at his neck and her hand flies up to cover her own, and she hisses.

"Yeah, she does that," he says nonchalantly. "Why do you think I wear the collars?" Despite knowing the pose is wasted on her, he still does it, with a dash of smolder. "I wouldn't keep all this perfection to myself without reason. That would be selfish."

“Eugene, it’s not - ” she starts, but he shakes his head and Cassandra stops.

“It’s fine,” he adds when he sees her guilt start to overwhelm her. “Blondie and I had - we had talked about it before, you know.”

Cassandra startles, does that thing she does - where she braces herself and he hates to see it right now, against him.

“It’s okay,” repeats Eugene. His eyes wander over to the window, eyebrow quirking at the canvas spilled over the floor. “Girl, we have got to work on your stealth.”

Her lips curl up, just slightly. “I’m not usually so loud.” 

_ Ah. _

He slaps his hands together. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go find some breakfast.”

Cassandra pointedly drops her eyes to the tray he brought. He grins and taps it with a finger.

“That is a breakfast for two, not three.” He stands up, but she’s not paying attention to him, eyes on Rapunzel. "Oh, and one more thing," Eugene says, pausing at the door, "she missed you."

_ I missed you. _

Cassandra flicks her hand at him lazily, still focused back on Rapunzel, who is now snoring softly. "It won't happen again."

He shuts the door behind him and immediately shifts his face into his best look of concerned alarm. Stan and Pete stare at him, unimpressed.

"Someone is  _ in there _ with the princess," Eugene whispers harshly, satisfied with their dual looks of concern as they rush passed him, now entirely unconcerned with the prank he pulled earlier to sneak into said princess's bedroom.

He's just turning the corner when he hears it. 

"FITZHERBERT!"

There, he thinks, now it's complete.


End file.
